Judith Armatta, JD, is an attorney, author, lecturer and activist. From 2002 to 2005, she monitored and published commentary on the war crimes trial of Slobodan Milosevic as the Coalition for International Justice's liaison to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague. Before coming to CIJ, she served with the American Bar Association's Central and East European Law Initiative for three years as rule of law liaison establishing offices in Serbia and Montenegro. During the Kosovo war, she organized a war crimes documentation project for refugees fleeing Kosovo.
For over two decades, she has worked to increase awareness of and response to violence against women and children-in her home state of Oregon, as well as at the national and international level. The Oregon Commission for Women recognized her as a "Woman of Achievement" in 1993, and the Multnomah Bar Association granted her its Award of Merit in 1995. She is currently writing a book on the Milosevic trial.
Ryan Bounds, JD, is the chief of staff in the Office of Legal Policy in the U.S. Department of Justice, where he has served as counsel and then senior counsel from March 2004. With other Department of Justice lawyers, he helped advise members of Congress on language for the Justice for All Act and to draft an updated edition of the Attorney General's Guidelines for Victim and Witness Assistance to take account of the Act after it passed. Before joining the government, Mr. Bounds was a law clerk to Judge Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and thereafter an associate at the law firm of Stoel Rives LLP in Portland. He graduated from Yale Law School in 1999.
Meg Garvin, JD, is the lead staff attorney and Acting Director of Programs for the National Crime Victim Law Institute and manages the State and Federal Demonstration Project under the Office for Victims of Crime grant. The Project's components include establishing and providing training and assistance to 9 legal clinics across the country that will each provide direct representation to crime victims in trial courts; establishing a network of victims' rights attorneys nationwide; assisting attorneys who represent crime victims in trial courts; writing amicus briefs for appellate courts nationwide on victims' rights issues; and educating both the public and the legal profession about crime victim rights. Ms. Garvin comes to the Project after a private practice litigation career in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Prior to private practice Ms. Garvin clerked for the Honorable Donald P. Lay of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. She has also served as pro bono appellate counsel through the Minnesota State Public Defender’s Office. Ms. Garvin has a B.A. from the University of Puget Sound, an M.A. in Communications Studies, and earned her J.D. from the University of Minnesota.
The Honorable Margaret (“Meg”) R. Mahoney is a Judge of the Superior Court of the State of Arizona, for the County of Maricopa, sitting in Phoenix, Arizona. Meg was appointed to the bench in May of 2002 by Arizona Governor Jane Dee Hull. Following 3 ½ years on a Family (Domestic Relations) Court assignment, Meg rotated to a Criminal Court assignment in September of 2005. Meg spent effectively all of her career as a practicing attorney at the law firm of Bryan Cave, LLP, which she joined in 1989 and where she was elected partner in 1999. Meg practiced general commercial litigation, with an emphasis on business contract disputes and real estate disputes. Meg received her J.D. cum laude from Boston College Law School in May of 1988, during which time she externed for the Honorable David S. Nelson, Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Meg received her B.A. in French from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College in 1979, and for the next 5 years before entering law school, Meg worked for the Internal Revenue Service as a Revenue Officer in the US and abroad. Meg’s activities include arbitrator, past-chairperson of the Arizona State Bar Fee Arbitration Committee; master member, past-president and pupilage leader of the Sandra Day O’Connor Inn of Court; Eucharistic Minister at St. Theresa Catholic Church; and Girl Scout troop leader. Meg has been married to Mark Cardwell for 23 years and is the mother of 12 year old twins.
Steve Twist, JD, serves as Assistant General Counsel for Viad Corp., in Phoenix, Arizona. He volunteers as General Counsel for the National Victims Constitutional Amendment Project, he is Special Counsel to the National Crime Victim Law Institute, and is founder and current President of Arizona Voice for Crime Victims.
Mr. Twist serves on the national board of the National Organization of Parents Of Murdered Children, Inc. and the National Organization for Victim Assistance. He also serves as NOVA’s Vice President for Public Policy. Mr. Twist teaches victims rights law at the Arizona State University College of Law and he is the founder of a crime victims’ legal clinic at the law school that provides free legal representation to crime victims seeking to protect their legal rights.
Mr. Twist has worked in the field of victims’ rights since 1975. He is the former Chief Assistant Attorney General of the State of Arizona. He is the principal author of the Arizona constitutional amendment for victims’ rights and the Arizona Victims’ Rights Implementation Act. He has extensive experience litigating the enforcement of victims’ rights. He has worked across the country helping state legislatures and local groups consider and pass victims’ rights amendments and implementing statutes.
Mr. Twist has testified extensively in Congress on the need for a federal Crime Victims’ Rights Amendment. He is a principal author of the Scott Campbell, Stephanie Roper, Wendy Preston, Luarna Gillis, Nila Lynn Crime Victims Rights Act (HR 5107, Title 1). His testimony and other selected writings on victims’ rights are available at www.nvcap.org. With his colleagues Prof. Doug Beloof and Federal District Court Judge Paul Cassell, he is co-author of the second edition, Victims in Criminal Procedure, published by Carolina Academic Press. He is a 2003 recipient of the President’s National Crime Victims’ Service Award. Mr. Twist has a B.A. degree and a J.D. degree from ASU.
FACULTY PRESENTERS' BIOGRAPHIES
Valenda Applegarth, JD, is a Senior Attorney at Greater Boston Legal services who has practiced family law, specializing in domestic violence litigation for over fifteen years. She is the creator and supervisor of the country's only Relocation Counseling Project for victims of crime. This project serves all victims of crime in a broad array of often complicated civil legal matters surrounding victim safety and relocation. The Relocation Counseling Project accesses expertise in cross substantive areas such as immigration, housing, state and federal benefits and consumer law. The project provides direct representation in identity changes, family law cases involving interstate jurisdiction and other areas of civil practice.
Linda Atkinson, has been active in DWI prevention and victim advocacy since she began as a volunteer in 1987. She was a Co-founder of the Center in 1992 and has been the Executive Director since 1994. She is recognized as one of the foremost experts on DWI issues in New Mexico. Over the years she has held several Governor-appointed positions in a variety of fields – Highway Safety, Judicial Standards, Ignition Interlock and currently serves on the Governor’s Alliance for Victims Rights and the Liquor Control Task Force. Atkinson has researched and published a community field guide on DWI prevention as well as a study on DWI dismissals in the local court. Ms. Atkinson has advocated for victims rights over the years, in the legislature, in the courts, with state agencies and with other victim assistance organizations. She began the NM Victims Rights Education and Enforcement Project in 2002 which evolved into the current NM Victims Rights Legal Assistance Project.
Assistant State’s Attorney Mary L. Boland, JD, is a supervisor in the criminal appeals division is of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office in Chicago, Illinois. She argues violent crime appeals before the First District Appellate Court and the Illinois Supreme Court. Most of her cases involve constitutional issues in sex-related offenses. Prior to joining the state’s attorney’s office, she represented nonprofit victim organizations and served as a legal director of a statewide nonprofit victims organization. She has successfully drafted and testified on legislation, and has written and taught extensively on victims’ issues. She served as a steering committee member to the Illinois Crime Victims’ Constitutional Amendment Network (IL-VICAN) which wrote the 1992 Illinois Crime Victims’ Constitutional Amendment. She was also a primary drafter for the 1994 amendments to the Rights of Crime Victims and Witnesses Act. A long-time law enforcement instructor, she has taught numerous courses on sexual harassment and sexual assault.
Boland has also sat on various committees and boards. She is currently co-chair of the Victims Committee of the Criminal Justice Section, American Bar Association and has been a co-chair of the Victims Issues Committee of the Illinois Prosecutors Bar Association. Boland has served as a consultant on various peer review projects and as a practitioner expert for the Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice and the Office for Victims of Crime. She was a consultant on the National Crime Victim’s Agenda Project and was a contributing author to New Directions from the Field: Victims’ Rights and Services for the 21st Century (OVC 1998). She served as co-chair of the subcommittee on crime and sentencing of the Gender Bias Task Force in Illinois and participated in developing the first sexual harassment policy for the City of Chicago, Commission on Human Relations.
She has also co-authored a chapter entitled “The Effective Prosecutor: Assisting Crime Victims with Special Needs” in The Prosecutor’s Deskbook (APRI 2001) and contributed a section on victim’s rights to the Criminal Justice Chapter of the ABA Family Law Guide (2003) has co-authored an article analyzing the case of Shepard v. United States, no. 03-9168 (U.S. S.Ct.) for the ABA’s November 2004 Preview Magazine and wrote an article for the ABA’s Criminal Justice Magazine on Cyberstalking (Spring 2005) . She also directed and provided substantial edits to the recent ABA Victim’s Committee monograph entitled Restitution (2004). Boland has authored several consumer law books, all published by Sourcebooks: Crime Victims Guide to Justice (2nd ed. 2001) and Spanish edition Gu'a de Justicia para Victimas del Crimen (2001, translator Marta C. Quiroz-Pecirno); Sexual Harassment (2002, 2nd ed. 2005); Your Right to Child Custody, Visitation and Support (3nd ed. 2004) and Child Support: Your Legal Guide to Collecting, Enforcing and Terminating the Court’s Order (2004).
Boland has been an adjunct professor for over ten years; she has taught at universities and for a law school in the Chicagoland area.
Sandy Bromley, JD, joined the National Center for Victims of Crime in September, 2005 as a Program Attorney for the Stalking Resource Center. The Stalking Resource Center is funded by the Office on Violence Against Women to provide technical assistance and training to grantees. The mission of the Stalking Resource Center is to raise national awareness about stalking and to encourage the development and implementation of multidisciplinary responses to stalking in local communities across the country. Prior to joining the National Center for Victims of Crime, Sandy was the Director of Services for the Maryland Crime Victims'
Resource Center, Inc. (MCVRC), a statewide nonprofit victim services organization. In that position, Sandy was responsible for all direct victims' services programs, including legal advocacy and social and therapeutic services. She also previously served as the staff attorney for the MCVRC representing crime victims with legal issues such as criminal justice rights, restitution request and collection, crime victim compensation board appeals, and various family law matters.
Melissa Burton, is the current State Victims’ Rights Enforcement Officer for the Arizona Attorney General’s Office of Victims Services. She is responsible for monitoring state agencies interpretation and implementation of the Victims’ Rights statutes. As part of her position, Ms. Burton performs site visits to sixty agencies receiving Victims’ Rights Program funding through the Attorney General’s Office on a biannual basis. Previous to this position, Ms. Burton worked with various populations within the legal system, including victims, offenders, and legal professionals dealing with a variety of issues. She has worked for over ten years in social services with challenges including domestic violence, juvenile offenders, sexual assault/dating violence, and offender rehabilitation. She has been affiliated with such agencies/organizations as, SAFE Place (Michigan), Domestic Violence Project, SAFE House (Michigan), the Illinois Attorney General’s Office-Violence against Women Division, and Chicago International Charter School Foundation (Illinois). Training and group facilitation are areas of focus and expertise as well. Presently, Ms. Burton’s focus is raising the knowledge and ability of enforcing victims' rights in Arizona and nationally.
Russell P. Butler, JD, is an Attorney who serves as Executive Director of the Maryland Crime Victims’ Resource Center, Inc. Russell serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Baltimore Law School teaching “The Rights of Crime Victims” starting in 2005.
From 1985 to 2002, Russell served as lobbyist for the Stephanie Roper Committee, Inc., and also as the legal counsel for the Stephanie Roper Foundation, Inc. Russell has also served as lobbyist for MADD from 1999 to 2003.
Russell serves on a number of Maryland criminal justice advisory committees including the State Commission on Criminal Sentencing Policy and the Article 27 Revision Committee. Russell served as the 2004-2005 Chair of the Maryland State Bar Association’s Section on Criminal Law and Practice.
Russell is a graduate of the University of Maryland in College Park and the University of Baltimore Law School.
Catherine A Carroll, JD, has worked in the field of domestic violence and sexual assault for the past thirteen years. During that time she has worked with abused women who were incarcerated in the San Francisco County Jail; with the California Coalition for Battered Women in Prison; the California Alliance Against Domestic Violence; Bay Area Women Against Rape and WOMAN Inc in San Francisco. She has been providing direct services to abused women and girls for the past ten years. Formerly she was a staff attorney at the Support Network for Battered Women, in Mountain View California and at the Family Violence Law Center, in Berkeley, California. Prior to her move to Washington State, Ms. Carroll was the Director of Legal Services at STAND! Against Domestic Violence in Contra Costa County, CA.
Ms. Carroll has trained hundreds of police officers throughout California and nationally as a trainer with the National Primary Aggressor Training Project. Ms. Carroll also served as the Co-Chair of the California Alliance Against Domestic Violence, Public Policy and Research Committee, Bay Area Chapter for two years and has worked extensively on domestic violence legislation in California. Ms. Carroll graduated from New College School of Law in San Francisco and is licensed to practice law in California and Washington. Since 2002, Ms. Carroll has been the Legal Director as the WA Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs.
Professor Paul G. Cassell, is a Professor of Law at the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah. While he also serves as a U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Utah, he will be speaking at the conference as an academic.
Professor Cassell graduated with honors from Stanford University in 1981, and from Stanford Law School in 1984. While at Stanford, he was elected to Order of the Coif (top ten percent of the class) and served as President of the Stanford Law Review. After graduation, Cassell served as a law clerk to then-Judge Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (1984-85) and Chief Justice Warren E. Burger of the U.S. Supreme Court (1985-86). Cassell then moved to the U.S. Justice Department, serving as Associate Deputy Attorney General (1986-88) and an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia (1988-91). While an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Cassell handled a variety of criminal cases, including more than a dozen felony jury trials.
In 1992, Professor Cassell moved to Utah to teach criminal procedure and other subjects at the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah. Cassell published widely on subjects including crime victims? rights in journals such as the Stanford Law Review, the Michigan Law Review, the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, the BYU Law
Review, and the Utah Law Review. While a professor at the University of Utah, Cassell also handled pro bono litigation on crime victims issues in courts around the country, including arguing for victims in the Oklahoma City bombing case and arguing for modifying the Miranda rules in an appearance before the United States Supreme Court.
Since becoming a judge in 2002, Judge Cassell has published a number of widely-cited opinions. In 2004, he published the first decision in the country declaring the Federal Sentencing Guidelines unconstitutional. After the Supreme Court reached the same result in 2005, Judge Cassell published the first decision in the country explaining how the Guidelines continued to retain advisory force. In the summer of 2005, Chief Justice Rehnquist appointed Judge Cassell to the be the Chair of the Judicial Conference?s Criminal Law Committee.
Professor Cassell's recent publications include: Beloof, Cassell & Twist, Victims in Criminal Procedure (Carolina Academic Press 2d ed. 2006); The Crime Victim's Right to Attend the Trial: The Reascendant National Consensus" 9 Lewis & Clark L. Rev. 481 (Fall 2005) (co-authored with Professor Doug Beloof), Recognizing Victims in the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure: Proposed Amendments in Light of the Crime Victims' Rights Act, 2005 B.Y.U.L.Rev. 835 (2005).
Howard Davidson, JD, has been involved with the legal aspects of child protection for over 30 years. He’s directed the ABA Center on Children and the Law since its 1978 establishment. The Center provides extensive training, technical assistance, consulting, and publications for lawyers, child welfare agencies, juvenile (dependency) courts, and programs that provide legal representation in these cases. Howard served as chair of the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect and is a founding board member of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. He is author of many legal articles on child maltreatment and in the 1970’s spent five years as a legal services attorney exclusively representing children.
Tracy M. Delaney, JD, is the Staff Attorney for the Maryland Crime Victims' Resource Center, Inc., formerly the Stephanie Roper Foundation, Inc., a statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring that victims of crime receive justice and are treated with dignity and compassion through comprehensive victims’ rights and services. As the Staff Attorney, Ms. Delaney is responsible for representing victims of crime with legal issues directly related to their victimization experience, including criminal justice rights, restitution request and collection, CICB appeals, and family law issues. Ms. Delaney is a graduate of Salisbury University and the University of Baltimore, School of Law. Prior to accepting a position with the MCVRC, Ms. Delaney worked extensively in the areas of mental health and health care policy.
Suzanne Elwell, JD, has been an investigator in the Crime Victim Justice Unit since 2004. The CVJU investigates complaints from victims who feel they have been mistreated or their statutory rights have been violated. Suzanne has been working in the area of violence against women for over 15 years, with experience spanning both direct advocacy and systems change. Prior to coming to the State of Minnesota, Suzanne was the executive director of WATCH, a court monitoring and research organization based in Minneapolis that focuses of issues of violence against women and children. In addition, she has worked as a prosecutor, domestic violence advocate and attorney, and as an administrator in a domestic violence agency. Suzanne received her law degree from the University of Iowa and has been admitted to the Iowa and California bars.
Shirley Haas joined the Governor's Office of Crime Control & Prevention in September 2003 when she was appointed to serve as the State Victim Rights Compliance Coordinator. She began her career in victim services in 1986 when she was appointed to serve as the first victim witness assistant in the Office of the District Attorney for the First Judicial District, Elizabeth City, North Carolina. During her tenure with the District Attorney's Office Shirley developed and directed a program that provided direct services to victims and witnesses of violent crimes within a seven county judicial district. While serving in the District Attorney’s Office, she worked hand-in-hand with prosecutors and law enforcement officers prosecuting multi-offender/multi-victim child sexual abuse cases, which led to the development of a multi-disciplinary review team for child abuse cases. In 1989 she was recognized by the North Carolina Victim Assistance Network and in 1995 by the Board of Directors of Kids First for her work in victim services, most notably, her services to child sexual abuse victims involved in the Little Rascals Daycare case. She, along with a colleague, created and implemented a court education program, called Kids in Court School (KICS), for potential child witnesses. In 1992, Ms. Haas founded Northeastern Children's Co-op, now Kids First, a child advocacy center, where she served as the executive director.
In 1993 Shirley relocated to Maryland and continued her career in victims’ services. She joined the Howard County State's Attorney's office where she served as the Director of the Victim Witness Assistance Unit until May 1995 when she was appointed to serve as the Director of the Victim Witness Assistance Unit, Carroll County State’s Attorney’s Office. While serving in Carroll County she continued to seek innovative methods to better serve crime victims and was instrumental in the successful implementation of an automated court and custody status notification system, now known as VINE. In 1998 Ms. Haas received the Governor’s Victim Services Award of Excellence for her work serving crime victims and for her role in the successful implementation of the VINE program. She was the program director for one of two pilot projects funded by the Governor’s Office of Crime Control & Prevention and the Maryland State Board of Victim Services, served as a member of the VINE Advisory Committee and the Victim Services Training Committee. Ms. Haas continued her service to victims of crime in Carroll County until her appointment to the Governor's Office of Crime Control & Prevention.
She has presented at numerous state and national conferences including the National Symposium on Child Abuse, National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse, North Carolina Victim Witness Assistants Conference, North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys, North Carolina Chapter of the National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse, North Carolina Victim Assistance Network, Maryland Roper Victim Assistance Academy, Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence (MNADV) Annual Conference and Maryland Seniors and Law Enforcement Together (SALT) Conference
Ms. Haas attended the University of Maryland where she pursued paralegal studies. She is a member of the Maryland Victim Services Professionals Association and Capitol Area Crisis Response Team, has over 600 hours of specialized training in victim services, and is a certified Victim Assistance Specialist and NOVA certified crisis responder.
She resides in Westminster, Maryland with her husband Robert and is the mother of three children, Eric (deceased), Jason, and Deanna.
Sarah V. Hart, JD, resigned as NIJ Director on August 31, 2005 after more than 4 years of service to the Department of Justice. She accepted an appointment on the faculty of Rutgers University School of Criminal Justice, where she will teach graduate programs in criminal justice. There she joins former NIJ colleague, James Finkenauer, who directed NIJ’s International Center from 1998 to 2003.
The Institute takes great pride in Ms. Hart’s accomplishments while at NIJ on behalf of the public safety community. Under her leadership, the Institute sponsored research leading to significant findings in criminal justice knowledge in both the social and the physical sciences as well as major advancements in law enforcement technology. During her tenure, NIJ sponsored ground-breaking research on body armor technology, human trafficking, violence against women, less-lethal technologies, prison violence, police fatigue, gun violence reduction, law enforcement communications interoperability, drug courts, and prisoner reentry. Additionally, under her guidance, NIJ supported the Administration’s counter-terrorism efforts by developing technology for the Nation’s bomb squads. She also implemented a development process to dramatically improve the capture and analysis of fingerprints.
A principal focus of her tenure was increased coordination of NIJ’s research agenda with the needs of practitioners in the criminal justice community. To more effectively communicate the knowledge that NIJ develops, Ms Hart significantly redesigned the agency’s publications, Web site, and annual report so that NIJ-sponsored research would be more accessible to different audiences. And she established an Evaluation Division within the Institute to help ensure that evaluation projects adhere to the highest scientific standards.
Ms. Hart’s most significant accomplishments as NIJ Director were in the area of DNA technology. She led the development and implementation of President’s DNA Initiative, Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology, which has dramatically expanded the use of forensic DNA technology to solve crimes, protect the innocent, and identify missing persons. She brought together many of the Nation’s foremost experts on DNA identification to help identify victims of the World Trade Center disaster. And she helped lead the development of a national strategy to identify missing persons with DNA technology.
Andy Kahan currently serves as the Mayor’s Crime Victims Director for the city of Houston, Texas. This one-man office acts as an ombudsman for victims of crime and has been instrumental in enacting victim-related legislation in addition to serving as a resource for victims of crime.
Andy Kahan received his Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice in 1983 from the University of Houston and came to work in 1992 as the Director of the Mayor’s Crime Victims Office for the City of Houston. His responsibilities include working with local crime victim’s rights organizations to facilitate the pooling of resources and the exchange of information. In addition, the office monitors parole and crime statistics, represents victims before the Parole Board, puts crime victims in touch with local crime victims support and advocacy groups and represents the Mayor before various inter-agency crime groups.
Since it’s inception, the Director has had great success in working with the Legislature in support of Victims Rights.
Keli Luther, JD, is currently the executive director and lead counsel for the Crime Victims Legal Assistance Project (CVLAP) in Tempe, Arizona. CVLAP is the first direct representation legal clinic for crime victims in the United States and has been recognized by the United States Department of Justice and the National Crime Victim Law Institute as a model site for the nation. It is the mission of CVLAP to vigorously advocate for the protection and enforcement of a crime victim’s constitutional rights in court. Formed in 2001, CVLAP is comprised of staff attorneys, Arizona State University College of Law students and volunteer attorneys who represent crime victims pro bono during all criminal proceedings. Ms. Luther began her work at CVLAP as a volunteer. She was later hired permanently as the project’s staff attorney. Within the scope of her position, Ms. Luther has represented crime victims throughout the criminal justice process including advocating at both the trial and appellate level including the United States and Arizona Supreme Court. She has also researched, drafted and argued motions resulting in key victims’ rights victories involving constitutional issues as right to be heard, speedy trial, evidentiary disclosure issues such as victim privacy and victim impact statements. Ms. Luther drafted the United States Supreme Court amicus curiae brief on behalf of all crime victims in Ring v. State of Arizona. Prior to Ms. Luther’s constitutional work with crime victims, she practiced in the area of corporate and constitutional law litigation in Washington, D.C. before returning home to Arizona in late 2001.
Jamie Mills, JD, is a solo practitioner in Hartford, Connecticut. She has represented the Connecticut Sexual Assault Crisis Services, Inc. since 1987. Her practice is limited to representing employees in labor and employment related matters and victims of sexual assault and abuse in civil cases. Attorney Mills is on the Executive Committee of the Labor and Employment Section and the Women’s Law Section of the Connecticut Bar Association. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law where she teaches Gender, Sexuality and the Law and a Civil Clinic in GLBT issues. Attorney Mills received her J.D. from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1987 where she received the American Jurisprudence Award for Labor Law.
Kim Montagriff, JD, as an NCVLI staff attorney, performs research, provides technical assistance, and participates in impact litigation on issues affecting victims of crime under the Office for Victims of Crime grant. As Assistant Attorney General for the state of Colorado, she worked in the appellate unit of the Criminal Enforcement Section, drafting appellate briefs for submission to the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. Ms. Montagriff clerked for Justice Kirshbaum on the Colorado State Supreme Court and served as a Lawyering Process Professor and legal writing instructor at the University of Denver College of Law.
Professor Julie Nice holds the Delaney Chair at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law where she has served on the faculty since 1991. Her primary scholarly interests relate to constitutional law, including investigating the interaction between equality and liberty
and examining the relationship between constitutional rights and social movements. She focuses much of her research on discrimination still staunchly defended, especially that based on poverty and/or sexuality. She is lead author of Poverty Law: Theory and Practice (West), which is widely adopted at law schools across the United States. Professor Nice has received eight awards for her law teaching, including the University’s William T. Driscoll Master Educator Award in 2003 and the University’s Scholar/Teacher of the Year Award in 1999. Professor Nice also received the University’s Center for Multicultural Excellence Outstanding Advocate Award for 2003-04 and the College of Law’s Hughes-Ruud Research Professorship in 1998-99. She has taught as a Visiting Professor at University of Michigan Law School and University of Connecticut School of Law. Professor Nice received her undergraduate and law degrees from Northwestern University. She began her teaching career as a Clinical Fellow at Northwestern University School of Law. Prior to this, she was a public interest trial lawyer
at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago.
Kim Ogg is the Executive Director for the Crime Stoppers of Houston, a non-profit organization. She is responsible for its $1.1 million annual budget and all fundraising aspects of the organization. She is additionally responsible for the 16 person multi-agency task force and administrative staff. She acts as the liaison to the volunteer Board of Directors, which represents more than 40 local and national corporations. She is also the media spokesperson for the organization; liaison to local, state, and federal government, including Harris County judiciary and all school districts; and coordinator of services to constituents, including individual and corporate crime victims.
Richard Pompelio, JD, was admitted to the bar in New Jersey in 1972, and he has been a victims’ rights attorney for over fifteen years. On February 12, 1989 Richard’s 17 year old son, Tony was murdered. As he and his family suffered one indignity after another at the hands of the County Prosecutor’s office, he was confronted with the reality that the criminal justice system did little more than re-victimize innocent crime victims.
In 1992, Richard dissolved his law partnership and established the New Jersey Crime Victims’ Law Center, which is dedicated to the pro bono representation of crime victims in the criminal justice system. The Victims’ Law Center is presently in its fourteenth year of serving crime victims throughout the State of New Jersey. Richard has also served as Chairman of the New Jersey Victims of Crime Compensation Board, and he has been involved in the drafting of much victims rights legislation in New Jersey, including the Victim’s Rights Constitutional Amendment in 1991. He has represented many crime victims before the courts throughout the State of New Jersey, and has served as special counsel to many organizations in the area of victims’ rights including the Office of the Attorney General.
Robin R. Runge, JD, is the Director of the Commission on Domestic Violence at the American Bar Association. Robin has been a domestic violence victim advocate for fourteen years and practiced employment law for five years with a focus on women’s rights in employment, specifically the Family and Medical Leave Act, Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act and employment protections for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Robin is a nationally-recognized expert on the employment rights of victims and speaks and provides trainings regularly on these issues. She has co-authored several articles on employment law and domestic violence, and has worked on state and federal legislation providing job-guaranteed leave from work, unemployment insurance and anti-discrimination in employment for domestic violence and sexual assault victims.
Previously, Robin was Deputy Director and Coordinator of the Program on Women’s Employment Rights (POWER) at the D.C. Employment Justice Center and the coordinator of the Domestic Violence and Employment Project at the Employment Law Center, Legal Aid Society of San Francisco. In these capacities, she was responsible for the development and supervision of the legal, policy, and public education components of each program, including supervising legal clinics, supervising attorneys providing legal representation to low income women, and conducting trainings on these issues for domestic violence victims, advocates, policy-makers, attorneys and human resource managers. In 1997, Robin was the first George Washington University Law School graduate to receive one of fourteen Equal Justice Fellowships from Equal Justice Works (formerly the National Association for Public Interest Law) to create the Domestic Violence and Employment Project at the Legal Aid Society of San Francisco - one of the first programs in the country devoted exclusively to advocating for the employment rights of domestic violence victims. In 2000, Robin was a public policy attorney for the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence in its Washington, DC office.
Robin currently serves on the advisory board of the Corporate Alliance To End Partner Violence and the Women’s Information Network. In from 2001-2005, she was a member of the board of directors of Women Empowered Against Violence (WEAVE), a non-profit agency providing legal, counseling and economic literacy support to domestic violence victims in Washington, DC and co-chair of the board in 2005. She has also served on the board of the California Alliance Against Domestic Violence (1998-2000), and co-chair of its Public Policy and Research Committee (1998-2000). Robin is currently an Associate Professorial Lecturer in Law at The George Washington University Law School teaching Public Interest Lawyering and an Adjunct Professor at The American University Washington College of Law where she teaches Domestic Violence Law.
Robin is a member of the California Bar and District of Columbia Bar. She received her law degree from The George Washington University Law School where she received the West Publishing Award for Clinical Achievement in Family Law and the Baer Award for Individual Excellence from The George Washington University. She received her B.A. in History and French, cum laude, from Wellesley College. Robin is from Collinsville, Illinois, outside of St. Louis, Missouri.
Carol L. Schrader, JD,, has been Director of the Oregon Crime Victims’ Rights Compliance Project since its inception in 2005. A graduate of Harvard Divinity School and the Northeastern University School of Law, she has provided legal advocacy at Legal Aid Services in Boston, Cleveland and Portland, Oregon. She has led, as board member and executive director, programs working to end domestic and sexual violence. In her spare time she works for strong public education in Portland and enjoys her family, friends and a very hip book group.
Toby Shulruff is Technology Safety Specialist for the Safety Net project at the National Network to End Domestic Violence. Prior to her work at NNEDV, she provided training, technical assistance and materials development on technology issues, nonprofit management and policy issues to local programs and statewide coalitions with the Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs. She began her work through self-defense and martial arts training, and is currently a volunteer self-defense teacher. Toby earned a bachelor’s degree from the Evergreen State College with an emphasis in Cultural Studies.
Charles C. Song, JD, is the founder and director of the Legal Advocacy Program at the Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking (CAST) which is dedicated exclusively to providing legal services to survivors of trafficking and works collaboratively with clients, community based organizations, public interest attorneys, and numerous government agencies to ensure survivors of trafficking are provided linguistically-appropriate, culturally-sensitive, and victim-centered legal services. The Program provides long-term, comprehensive direct services, technical assistance and support, and referrals, develops and implements creative legal strategies, conducts outreach and training, and advocates for public policies that emphasize the human rights of survivors. Since the Program was founded, it has served hundreds of survivors. Specific examples of the legal services that CAST provides its clients include: a) assistance in cooperating in investigations and prosecutions of traffickers; b) securing release from detention; c) advocacy to protect rights as victim witnesses; d) representation in removal proceedings; e) advocacy to obtain Continued Presence and Certification as a trafficking victim to establish eligibility for refugee benefits; f) assistance in filing T-Visa, U-Visa, and VAWA applications; and g) obtaining child custody and restraining orders. To comprehensively respond to survivors’ urgent legal needs, CAST, among other things, coordinates networks of pro bono attorneys and inaugurated the Trafficking Legal Clinic (TLC), the first legal clinic dedicated to serving survivors in the United States.
In addition to representing survivors, Charles serves as a national resource attorney on trafficking and provides technical assistance and training to nongovernmental organizations, government agencies, and pro bono attorneys. He has testified before the United States Senate and House of Representatives and the California Legislature and regularly consults with state and federal legislators, government officials, and law enforcement officers to improve implementation of existing anti-trafficking laws and develop new legislation to address trafficking. Charles is also the former coordinator of the Los Angeles Slavery and Trafficking Task Force, the first task force in the nation to address slavery and trafficking. He was recently named one of the top lawyers under forty in Southern California and an Attorney of the Year in California. He represented the first survivor to receive a T visa and to adjust to permanent resident status.
Prior to joining CAST, Charles served as the Human Rights Fellow/Staff Attorney at the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law where he prosecuted federal civil rights class action lawsuits on behalf of indigent clients before the federal district and appeals courts. He served as counsel in several lawsuits, including Reno v. Flores, 113 S.Ct. 1439 (1993), a national class action on behalf of refugee children subjected to unlawful detention conditions or denied release on bail pending deportation proceedings, Reno v. Catholic Social Services, 113 S.Ct. 2485 (1993), a national class action to restore the rights of persons unlawfully denied legalization under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, and Khaisri v. Ashcroft, an action on behalf of an unaccompanied minor trafficking victim to enjoin his removal and apply for immigration benefits.
Charles’ past employers include the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the President’s Interagency Council on Women, the International Human Rights Law Group, and RAND. Prior to his graduate studies, Charles founded and directed a therapeutic athletic program for severely emotionally disturbed students.
Melissa Stephenson, JD, is the General Counsel of New Mexico Victims Rights Project. She provides legal assistance to victims of crime throughout the criminal justice process, as well as assistance to victims of crime in creating victim impact statements, filing for restitution, obtaining information regarding an offender through the Department of Corrections or in collaboration with probation and parole officers, and facilitating their contact with other victim resources. She also provides training and educational opportunities on the issues surrounding victims’ rights law to advocates, prosecutors, and the broader legal community.
Currently an adjunct professor at the University of New Mexico School of Law, teaching ethics, a member (since 2005) of the NM Sentencing Commission representing the interests of victims of crime, a collaborator in the ARC of New Mexico Justice Advocacy SAVE project to help stop assault and violence against individuals with developmental disabilities, and member of the NM Coalition Victims Rights Coalition.
Veronica Swain, is a native of Washington, DC and has lived in Columbia, SC since 1985. She has served as Chief Executive Officer of the South Carolina Victim Assistance Network (SCVAN) since April of 2000. Prior to SCVAN, Ms. Swain served as paralegal to the Chief of Criminal Prosecution under two Attorneys General for 8 years, assisting in statewide prosecutions of both white collar and violent crimes. She managed the Statewide Grand Jury Division of the Attorney General’s Office, which prosecutes multi-jurisdictional drug conspiracy, public corruption and pornography cases, and the Death Penalty Division of the AG’s Office. She is the mother of two grown children.
Joanna Tucker Davis, JD, is an attorney with the National Crime Victim Law Institute. Ms. Tucker Davis provides legal technical assistance, training, and brief writing on issues such as crime victims’ civil rights in the criminal justice system, rape shield laws, privilege and confidentiality, and protecting the images and identity of sexual assault survivors. As an assistant district attorney in Manhattan, Ms. Tucker Davis investigated and tried a wide range of crimes, including violent felonies and cases of domestic violence. She was also a member of the New York County District Attorney's Office Sex Crimes Unit. During her tenure as a sex crimes prosecutor, Ms. Tucker Davis conducted an extensive investigation into an internet child pornography ring and prosecuted sexual assault cases involving crimes perpetrated by strangers, acquaintances and domestic partners. She has a B.A. from Colgate University, an M.A. in English from Binghamton University, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
This project was supported in part by Grant No. 2002-VF-GX-K004 awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
